NASA
Nasa: Astronaut Biographies
This site provides biographical information on all NASA astronauts and many Russian Cosmonauts.
NASA
Nasa: Sputniks 1, 2, and 3
NASA provides a paper that "deals with the politics, planning and technology of the period 1946-1958" in the Sputnik program.
NASA
Nasa: The International Geophysical Year
This site from NASA outlines the Sputnik program and the political underworkings that allowed it to reach fruition.
NASA
Nasa: "Pravda" Press Release
NASA provides the full text from the tersely worded "Pravda," the Russian national newspaper, that announced the successful launch of Sputnik.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Teaching Math & Science in Age of Sputnik
Why did the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik throw the fields of mathematics and science into tremendous demand in the United States? Find the many ways this revolutionary event impacted children from the 1950s to become the...
NASA
Nasa Star Child: Space Station Mir (Level 2)
The Russian space station Mir is illustrated and described. Features include vocabulary words linked to a glossary of terms.
NASA
Nasa: Salyut 4
Overview of the Salyut 4 space station mission and instrumentation. Has a great picture of the computer rendering of the space station.
University of Wisconsin
The Why Files: Sputnik's Legacy
This exploratory article (published September 11, 1997) outlines the history of the Sputnik Space program, but also includes the response within the United States educational system to speedily ramp up the study of science, math and...
PBS
Pbs: Red Files: Secret Soviet Moon Mission
PBS offers biographies and stories from the early days of the Soviet Space program, which prompted the Space Race and nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.
Other
Iki: Russian Space Research Institute
The official site for the "leading organization of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the field of investigations of Outer Space, Solar System planets and other objects of the Universe"
NASA
Nasa: Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age
This site from NASA describes the impact that Sputnik had in triggering the space race.
NASA
Nasa: Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age
NASA provides a paper providing a background to the Sputnik launch and the U.S. response.
NASA
Nasa: Pre and Post Sputnik Public Attitudes
This site from NASA provides a paper that describes the public's attitiude before and after the launch of the Sputnik satellite. Originally presented as part of the "U.S. President's Committee on Information Activities Abroad."
NASA
Nasa: Sputnik Pictures
NASA provides pictures of various Sputnik program satellites, including Sputnik 1. Also has pictures of key officials involved in the Sputnik program.
NASA
Nasa Space Science Data Archive: Russian Lunar Missions
Details the Russian lunar missions from Luna 1 to Zond 8.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: The Start of the Space Race
Learn about the launch of Sputnik and the establishment of NASA.
A&E Television
History.com: The Soviet Response to the Moon Landing? Denial There Was a Moon Race at All
Until 1989, Russians claimed they were not trying to reach the Moon first and that the U.S. was in "a one-nation race." Until 1989, a group of American aerospace engineers went to Moscow and finally saw the Soviets' failed lunar-landing...
University of Wisconsin
The Why Files: Sputnik's Legacy
Easy-to-read history of the Soviet satellite launch that began the race for space between the Soviet Union and United States. Click on "next" at the bottom to advance to the next page.
Other
Soviet Space Photos: Photos of Voskhod 3
Actual photos of the Voskhod 3, viewable as larger versions upon clicking the thumbnail.
